What You Need to Know About OSHA & EPA Fine Increases

In 1990, the average cost of a gallon of gas was $1.16 and you could get a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk for less than $5.00. It was also the last time that that several federal agencies increased the maximum penalties charged for regulatory violations.

Congress recently changed this, however, by enacting legislation that required federal agencies to adjust their civil penalty rates for inflation over the past 25 years.

Going forward, agencies will adjust penalties for inflation annually, but for some agencies, this one-time readjustment means increases as high as 78 percent. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are among the agencies that increased fines on August 1, 2016.

Regulators hope that the increased fines will help make compliance a priority, while some industry groups feel that fines were already high enough. Here’s a look at the increases:

The best way to avoid these higher fines is to perform audits and conduct employee training to help ensure that your facility is doing all it can to comply. It also pays to check on your facility’s compliance with these top OSHA violations and EPA hazardous waste fines.

Karen

Karen D. Hamel, CSP, WACH, is a regulatory compliance professional, trainer and technical writer for New Pig. She has more than 22 years of experience helping EHS professionals find solutions to meet EPA, OSHA and DOT regulations and has had more than 100 articles published on a variety of EHS topics. Karen is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Walkway Auditor Certificate Holder (WACH), Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainer and hazmat technician. She also serves on the Blair County, Pa., LEPC and has completed a variety of environmental, safety, emergency response, DOT and NIMS courses, including Planning Section Chief. She has conducted seminars at national conferences and webinars for ASSE and other national organizations. She can be reached at 1-800-HOT-HOGS (468-4647) or by email karenea@newpig.com.

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